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Trusting Yourself: Growing Your Self-Awareness, Self-Confidence, and Self-Reliance
Who Would I Be, What Would I Do, If I Trusted Myself . . .
In her warm and inimitable way M.J. Ryan guides us to look at our lives from a different perspective. To imagine what they would be like if we practiced an attitude of self-trust, if we received the gifts trusting ourselves might give us.
In an age of constant media messages and so-called expert advice telling us to be richer, thinner, smart, and faster, we’re all dogged with worry and self-doubt. Bestselling author M.J. Ryan believes we’ve become so dependent on “experts” to tell us how to live our lives that we listen to everyone except ourselves.
In Trusting Yourself , Ryan identifies the answers to feeling swept away by we already have what it takes to cope. We can learn how to tap into the wisdom inside us by cultivating self-awareness, self-confidence, and self-reliance.
Learn how to quiet the critics—inside and out—and trust yourself instead. If you accept that we learn through trial and error, if you believe that we each have unique strengths and that not one of us has to have them all, if you realize that labels only get in the way, then your self-trust will grow, your worries will shrink, and you’ll find happiness and success with a lot less effort.
This is a life coach in a book that readers can turn to again and again when stress or worry takes over to find more peaceful, saner lives every day.
In her warm and inimitable way M.J. Ryan guides us to look at our lives from a different perspective. To imagine what they would be like if we practiced an attitude of self-trust, if we received the gifts trusting ourselves might give us.
In an age of constant media messages and so-called expert advice telling us to be richer, thinner, smart, and faster, we’re all dogged with worry and self-doubt. Bestselling author M.J. Ryan believes we’ve become so dependent on “experts” to tell us how to live our lives that we listen to everyone except ourselves.
In Trusting Yourself , Ryan identifies the answers to feeling swept away by we already have what it takes to cope. We can learn how to tap into the wisdom inside us by cultivating self-awareness, self-confidence, and self-reliance.
Learn how to quiet the critics—inside and out—and trust yourself instead. If you accept that we learn through trial and error, if you believe that we each have unique strengths and that not one of us has to have them all, if you realize that labels only get in the way, then your self-trust will grow, your worries will shrink, and you’ll find happiness and success with a lot less effort.
This is a life coach in a book that readers can turn to again and again when stress or worry takes over to find more peaceful, saner lives every day.
178 pages, Kindle Edition
First published May 11, 2004
61 people are currently reading
867 people want to read
About the author
M.J. Ryan
49 books111 followersMJ Ryan is one of the creators of the New York Times bestselling Random Acts of Kindness series and the author of The Happiness Makeover (nominated for the 2005 Books for Better Living award in the Motivational category), Attitudes of Gratitude, The Power of Patience, Trusting Yourself, The Giving Heart, and 365 Health and Happiness Boosters, among other titles. Altogether, there are 1.75 million copies of her titles in print.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 38 reviews
December 3, 2014
الكتاب يأخذك من بدايه مراحل الثقة بالنفس الى اعلاها .. ميزته انه موضوعات لكل موضوع مايقارب ٣ صفحات .. اذا حاب تستفيد من الكتاب لاقصى درجه اكتب بنوته و اقرأها بين كل فتره وفتره .. يعيب على الكتاب التفصيل احياناً و تكرار بعض الافكار
December 27, 2019
Light and easy to read. Solid advice and inspires self-reflection.
December 28, 2023
Second time reading this book and still finding so many good pieces of advice. I know I will continue to return to this book periodically throughout my life.
February 25, 2013
This is one of those books that is set up in three page chapters on various subjects, kind of a self help lite format. But in all honesty I think it works for this subject matter, because if you picked up a book that addresses the subject of 'trusting yourself', then 9 times out of 10 ANY book you read on it is going to meet up with lots of internal resistance. If you weren't already questioning your decisions, you would never have to pick up this book in the first place, in other words. So the three page chapters lull you into reading it in small doses, and I suspect you hear what it's trying to say better by being forced to slow down. Some excellent and valid points are expressed in this book, that i hadn't read or even heard out loud elsewhere, and I'm not going to post any of them here... you will just have to go read it for yourself.
February 10, 2015
كتاب جميل وخفيف يعطيك ملاحظات دقيقة ومهمة قد لا تكون ملاحظة بالنسبة لكثير من الناس ولكنها في ذات الوقت داعمه ومعينه بعد الله للإنسان في تخطيه إحساسه بالعجز أو قلة الثقة في نفسه
July 23, 2023
2.5 stars:
"To know what you prefer instead of humbly saying "Amen" to what the world tells you that you ought to prefer, is to have kept your soul alive." -- Robert Louis Stevenson
"All that is being asked of each of us is to be as real as we can be. To become fully ourselves and to offer that fullness to the rest of the world...
With self-trust, we understand that power and peace is found in "response-ability," our capacity to meet life as it comes to us. When we believe in our ability to respond, we don't fight against the witness of life because we know we'll handle what comes our way when it arrives. It also helps to remember that life's unpredictability brings us joy, too- the fact that things happen out of the blue... When I trust myself, I can see what happens as a dance between me and life. Sometimes I'm leading, sometimes I'm following, but the beauty and grace comes from responding to my partner rather than insisting that it must be my way...
The trust always resides in us. What we are saying to someone when we say we trust them is: I trust in my capacity to make myself safe with you or leave if need be.. All we have to do is ask ourselves, What do I need to do in order to trust myself with this person? And we need to be sure not to discount our inner knowing when it raises red flags..."
"Don't worry about what the world wants from you, worry about what makes you come more alive. Because what the world really needs are people who are more alive." -- Lawrence LeShan
"Self-trust builds on itself. The more we do it, the easier it is to rely on ourselves the next time...
[Transformation] happens through some combination of learning to read where you already are and, at the same time, keeping the possibility open that your capacity, my capacity, the capacity of all beings, is limitless... The more we can frame our behavior as practice, the more we can learn to do it better the next time...
Ask yourself...: What worked for me today? What did I learn about myself that I can use again? How might I do this better next time? ...
The next time you find yourself churning or swirling, notice where you are stuck. If it's in feelings, switch to analytic thinking by asking yourself, What are the facts of the situation? ... or... What does my heart tell me is right?... Shift modes...
Think about a decision you've made in the past that you feel really good about. Now tell me the steps you went through to get there...
When you are stuck on making a choice or decision and think, I don't know what to do, ask yourself: If I did know, what would the answer be? Keep asking the question until you give yourself an answer...
Have trouble saying no? Get in the habit of saying, "I'll get back to you," instead. That way you can consider in the privacy of your own mind whether the request is something you can do or not. Then inform the other person of your decision in the way that's easiest for you--email, phone call to machine, note."
"To know what you prefer instead of humbly saying "Amen" to what the world tells you that you ought to prefer, is to have kept your soul alive." -- Robert Louis Stevenson
"All that is being asked of each of us is to be as real as we can be. To become fully ourselves and to offer that fullness to the rest of the world...
With self-trust, we understand that power and peace is found in "response-ability," our capacity to meet life as it comes to us. When we believe in our ability to respond, we don't fight against the witness of life because we know we'll handle what comes our way when it arrives. It also helps to remember that life's unpredictability brings us joy, too- the fact that things happen out of the blue... When I trust myself, I can see what happens as a dance between me and life. Sometimes I'm leading, sometimes I'm following, but the beauty and grace comes from responding to my partner rather than insisting that it must be my way...
The trust always resides in us. What we are saying to someone when we say we trust them is: I trust in my capacity to make myself safe with you or leave if need be.. All we have to do is ask ourselves, What do I need to do in order to trust myself with this person? And we need to be sure not to discount our inner knowing when it raises red flags..."
"Don't worry about what the world wants from you, worry about what makes you come more alive. Because what the world really needs are people who are more alive." -- Lawrence LeShan
"Self-trust builds on itself. The more we do it, the easier it is to rely on ourselves the next time...
[Transformation] happens through some combination of learning to read where you already are and, at the same time, keeping the possibility open that your capacity, my capacity, the capacity of all beings, is limitless... The more we can frame our behavior as practice, the more we can learn to do it better the next time...
Ask yourself...: What worked for me today? What did I learn about myself that I can use again? How might I do this better next time? ...
The next time you find yourself churning or swirling, notice where you are stuck. If it's in feelings, switch to analytic thinking by asking yourself, What are the facts of the situation? ... or... What does my heart tell me is right?... Shift modes...
Think about a decision you've made in the past that you feel really good about. Now tell me the steps you went through to get there...
When you are stuck on making a choice or decision and think, I don't know what to do, ask yourself: If I did know, what would the answer be? Keep asking the question until you give yourself an answer...
Have trouble saying no? Get in the habit of saying, "I'll get back to you," instead. That way you can consider in the privacy of your own mind whether the request is something you can do or not. Then inform the other person of your decision in the way that's easiest for you--email, phone call to machine, note."
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
June 17, 2020
I find the added book description, "Book for Preteen Girls, Self-Development, for Girls Age 10-12)," to be especially interesting. I wonder who I would be today if I had been taught from a young age to (continue to) trust in myself?
I love how practical this text is. When I feel stuck during the day, I've asked myself, "What do I want to say, 'Yes' to?" And the chapter that discusses how to feel through your emotions by naming sensations, giving your emotions a color/shape, ect has been very helpful in letting me reconnect to my body when I'm in periods of anger or distress. The tools and reflective questions in this book are easy to implement which is why I've found myself reaching for it over and over this week. Moreover, I find M.J. Ryan's voice to be engaging, easy to read/understand, and relatable. I currently have this text as an eBook, but I think I will be purchasing the physical text so I can more easily access all of the wisdom and gentle kindness that lives within these pages.
I love how practical this text is. When I feel stuck during the day, I've asked myself, "What do I want to say, 'Yes' to?" And the chapter that discusses how to feel through your emotions by naming sensations, giving your emotions a color/shape, ect has been very helpful in letting me reconnect to my body when I'm in periods of anger or distress. The tools and reflective questions in this book are easy to implement which is why I've found myself reaching for it over and over this week. Moreover, I find M.J. Ryan's voice to be engaging, easy to read/understand, and relatable. I currently have this text as an eBook, but I think I will be purchasing the physical text so I can more easily access all of the wisdom and gentle kindness that lives within these pages.
Read
July 23, 2020I read this book to see if it offered any solutions to the self-skepticism I was experiencing after studying the psychology of belief and cognitive biases. What I got from the book was a welcome shift from thinking about self-trust as a belief one's own accuracy to thinking about self-trust as a belief in one's ability to adapt and endure. I skimmed through some of the more practical self-help stuff, and there's a lot of it. Also, she seems to have an optimistic view of human nature which is refreshing right now.
January 6, 2022
Really enjoyed this book and the perspectives it offered! “Trust Yourself”- seems like such simple advice but it’s often over-looked to seek the outside opinions and approval of others. For me this book has awakened the self-trust and self-awareness I know I’ve always had. Life is about trial and error, learning from our mistakes, and not looking to the outside for all the answers but rather trusting our own instincts and inner knowing. Will probably read this book often as a reminder that it’s ok to Trust yourself!!
January 10, 2025
First book of 2025. Overall, I would recommend. It felt very “basic” at the beginning. A little too: “self help-ish” or just citing other sources… but somewhere around chapter 17-20 I was able to acknowledge the depth the author was weaving. Some chapters were meh… some, I paused to chew on. That is just a reflection of how each of us will be affected in different ways.
If you are looking for potential healing, self-reflection, or a solid reminder of what you already know- I enjoyed listening to this audio book as I drove to pick up my children from multiple sports practices.
If you are looking for potential healing, self-reflection, or a solid reminder of what you already know- I enjoyed listening to this audio book as I drove to pick up my children from multiple sports practices.
November 24, 2018
This warm and friendly book enchanted me from the first page. I've been reading it slowly to savor it. The wide-ranging quotes and stories underscore the author's points with humanity, compassion, and charm. Most impressive of all: author Ryan's willingness to share her own missteps, her own challenges on her journey to trusting herself. Which makes me trust her. I have rarely read a how-t0 book of such warmth and softness, as well as hard-won wisdom. Highly recommended!
April 13, 2021
To be more fair, I'd give this book 4.5 / 5!
The beginning sounded like any self-help book you would pickup but while scrolling through the pages every day, this book kept cutting close to the bones in the most subtle and genuine way possible.
Very friendly to anyone who is looking for an easy introduction to self trust. Wonderful positive feeling that kept on growing through the chapters.
A book that I will gladly pick up again in the future !
The beginning sounded like any self-help book you would pickup but while scrolling through the pages every day, this book kept cutting close to the bones in the most subtle and genuine way possible.
Very friendly to anyone who is looking for an easy introduction to self trust. Wonderful positive feeling that kept on growing through the chapters.
A book that I will gladly pick up again in the future !
August 28, 2023
This is a deep insightful read, many chapters of brilliance. I read this book a few years ago and thought it was good. But in those years, I went through a big transformation in life and ended up reading again. This time, it hit differently! It’s a book worth re-visiting as you evolve! I am so grateful to MJ Ryan for caring to share her wisdom with the world
August 29, 2023
ثق لا تنتظر الفرص،
اجعل كل يومٍ و كأنهُ فرصتك للوصول إلى أهدافك تابع التقدم حتى ولو تقدمت خطوة واحدةً كل يوم، لا تدع الحياة تسرقُ أحلامك على مرآى عينيك.
حاول جاهداً و حارب بكل قوتك.
لا تتذمر من التعب، و لا تتراجع مهما زاد الضغط فـ حين تصلُ إلى هدفك ستتذكر جميع هذه الأوقات على أنها نقطة التحول التي صنعتكَ وجعلت منك هذا الشخص الذي أنت عليه الآن .
اجعل كل يومٍ و كأنهُ فرصتك للوصول إلى أهدافك تابع التقدم حتى ولو تقدمت خطوة واحدةً كل يوم، لا تدع الحياة تسرقُ أحلامك على مرآى عينيك.
حاول جاهداً و حارب بكل قوتك.
لا تتذمر من التعب، و لا تتراجع مهما زاد الضغط فـ حين تصلُ إلى هدفك ستتذكر جميع هذه الأوقات على أنها نقطة التحول التي صنعتكَ وجعلت منك هذا الشخص الذي أنت عليه الآن .
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
April 2, 2018
This book included some really great exercises and reminders that I did and will find helpful. I tend to like my self-help to have solid scientific research behind it, and this author doesn't attempt to provide much of that. But her advice is intuitively sound and inspiring.
January 14, 2019
Excellent book!
October 29, 2020
Brilliant ❤️
Amazing book really helpful to know its not just me that is like this and to give ways to cope... Thankyou 🙏🏻
Amazing book really helpful to know its not just me that is like this and to give ways to cope... Thankyou 🙏🏻
October 30, 2021
solid! quick, enjoyable, what I needed to hear. not groundbreaking, but good.
January 24, 2024
I took lot of notes!
Lots of important things for someone uniquely me !
Thanks M J Ryan
Lots of important things for someone uniquely me !
Thanks M J Ryan
January 31, 2011
Really great basics however some of the chapters and the explanation of concepts were so brief I was left feeling we'd simply skimmed the surface. Worth reading if you're not expecting the author to go into much depth. I'd consider this a good solid jumping-off spot for additional thought and reading.
April 3, 2013
I have this book for almost six years , last month I started reading it for the first time and thankfuly that I read it now when I need it the most . It's a great book . It is different than other self-help books coz it's realistic & applicable . It really changed something in me I just LOVED the book :)
January 29, 2009
Once you've read Attitudes of Gratitude, then this one, you see how she must have recycled some of her quotes and points from one into the other. They fit better in her "attitudes" book, and, ironically enough, I feel grateful that I read that book first! :)
January 22, 2009
This is the second book that I've read by MJ Ryan and I really like her style. She's clearly read alot and is very analytical. She distills information from various sources to create very short but poignant chapters that "show" you how to trust yourself and to live the life you want to live.
November 28, 2011
This little volume (readable in just a short, short time,) crossed my desk a few weeks ago, and I just had a chance to sit down and read it. It has a lot of pithy aphorisms that one might want to write down or remember for later.
August 15, 2015
This book was absolutely cheesy good. Powerful words. The book even took me out of my reading slump. I really did enjoy M.J. Ryan's words of wisdom. I know for fact that I will need to read this book again later.
July 23, 2008
How to just let go, trust your instincts and be happy with your own choices.
October 3, 2008
Such a great book.
Simple reminders in cultivating confidence and peace of mind in our everyday.
Simple reminders in cultivating confidence and peace of mind in our everyday.
February 2, 2009
A very good pat on the back when you're in need of such things.
July 23, 2009
i really enjoyed this book. short and sweet, but loaded with gems, this book will be a great go-to text for years to come.
December 9, 2009
This book offered no new insights, but it contained well written, thoughtful reminders on how to remain present and alive no matter what chaos may be going on around us.
Displaying 1 - 30 of 38 reviews